Swan Queen Week Winter 2017 - Flash Asuna Editions
by Flash.Asuna
Summary: Short Pieces for SQ Week Winter 2017 Jan 29: Celebrity AU Jan 30: Coffee Shop AU Jan 31: Medical AU Feb 1: Soulmates AU Feb 2: Enchanted Forest AU Feb 3: Trapped in an AU Feb 4: Creator's Choice I'm personally challenging myself to get through this week and diligently creating something, even if it is small. I hope it can get me back on pace with my writing.
1. Fan Girls - Celebrity AU

SwanQueen Week - Day 1

January 29th, 2017

Prompt: Celebrity AU

Summary: Emma Swan stars as the tough-as-nails ship captain, Ally Walsh, in the hit sci-fi drama series, _Darkness Falls_. The producers have announced a guest star will be coming in to play the role of the main antagonist, but haven't mentioned who it will be. When the guest star is Emma's celebrity crush, Regina Mills, she finds herself struggling to make it through the day.

* * *

Emma sat in her trailer with a deck of cards and a scowl on her face. Across from her, her co-star Elsa Frost, smirked from behind her hand. Emma sucked at cards but that didn't stop them from playing. Elsa glanced over at a small photo Emma kept on the counter.

"Still swooning over Regina Mills?" Elsa teased.

Emma threw a card down. "We're all allowed to have our celebrity crushes. Besides, didn't you see her in _Castro_? She was amazing in that role as the lesbian bartender."

"Is that why you're into her? I mean, she's definitely hot, but I'm pretty sure she's straight." Elsa played another card and Emma pouted.

"It's just a celebrity crush. I admire her, that's all."

Elsa's phone rang and she placed her cards face down on the table to answer it. She swatted Emma's hand as the other woman reached out to peek at her opponent's hand. Emma grinned and swatted Elsa back before she hung up the phone.

"Ok, we're being summoned. The new guest star is here," Elsa said as she stood up from the tiny banquette. Emma stood up as well, but not before flipping over Elsa's cards to see what her hand was. "You're the worst loser, Em."

"What? No…. okay, maybe." After gathering up keys and phones and jackets, the two women walked out of the trailer and headed through the studio lot to the familiar 503 building where they did most of their filming.

A small crowd of people were gathered near the set of the starship lounge. They could hear the voice of the producer speaking loudly, as if to establish his presence. "We're so pleased and honored you agreed to take on this role. Emma Swan is on her way. You'll want to spend some significant time with her, since you'll be playing her opposite role. Captain Ally and Ambassador Talia have a rivalry so deep that their lives are intertwined in amazing ways. It'll be a fun dynamic to play."

As Emma approached the crowd with Elsa behind her, she immediately felt her heart drop into a cold ice bath somewhere in the base of her stomach. The slender Latin woman who stood up and extended a hand to her smiled warmly. Emma stared at her dark red lips, painted with perfectly applied lipstick and felt her mouth go dry the moment their hands touched.

"Emma Swan? It's a pleasure to meet you. Regina Mills." Regina shook Emma's hand, grasping it between both of her hands. "I'm looking forward to working with you. I'll be joining you as Ambassador Talia."

"I…uh… me…" Emma stuttered. She licked her lips briefly and took a small breath. "Me, too. I mean, it's a huge honor. I've been a fan."

Regina smirked, "Flatterer."

The producer clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. "All right people, let's get this set put together. We've got three days to film Regina's scenes, so let's get to it."

Emma swallowed a lump in her throat. _Three days?! Working directly with Regina?!_

As the warmth of Regina's hands left Emma's and the dark haired woman smiled at her, Emma felt her entire world crumble around her.

Regina moved to step past Emma, but not before leaning in, close enough for Emma to feel her breath on her ear. "I look forward to the next three days, Miss Swan."

* * *

Emma paced in her trailer. Elsa sat at the banquette, leaning her chin into her hand with an amused smile. "Well, that was a surprise, wasn't it?"

"Did you know about this, Elsa?" Emma asked. A creeping thought in her head had her believing her friend was the one who convinced the producer to cast Regina.

Elsa held her hands up innocently, "I had no more clue than you did."

"What do I do?!" Emma said frantically, not really looking for an answer.

"Work, that's what." Elsa replied. She stood up from her seat and headed towards the door. "Look, why don't you take a breather. I've gotta get to makeup. That white face paint takes forever to apply."

Emma sat down and sighed, "Okay. I'll see you on set."

Elsa peered out of the frosted door window before putting her hand on the latch of the trailer door. "Oh, and Emma?"

"Yeah?"

"Your reaction is a little intense for just a crush. I don't think admiration is all you have for her." Elsa smirked as she opened the door and came face to face with the cause and cure of Emma's state of panic. "She's taking a breather."

Regina smiled at Elsa and stepped to the side to let the other woman pass. "Oh, good. I was hoping for a chance to talk with her."

"Have fun," Elsa replied as she waved off her new co-star.

Regina let herself into Emma's trailer and found the blonde sitting in the banquette with her head in her hands. The audible click of the trailer door caused Emma to raise her head and meet Regina's eyes.

"Anything I can help you with, Emma? It's okay that I call you that, right?" Regina asked.

"Oh my god, you're in my trailer…" the blonde muttered. She thought it was in her head, but the small frown that graced Regina's lips told her it wasn't.

"Should… I go? I was really hoping to spend some time with you, since we're going to be working together."

Emma stood up and took Regina's hand in her own. "No, stay. I'm sorry, I'm just a little star struck… and, yes… you can call me 'Emma."

Regina's laugh was not what Emma was expecting. It wasn't the melodic flirty laugh that she had while on _Castro._ But it wasn't the arrogant chortle of her lawyer personality from _Esquire_ , one of the earlier works that Regina had done. Her natural laugh was somewhere between a villainous chuckle and a debutante giggle.

"You're star struck?" Regina said, repeating Emma's words. She took note of her _Castro_ promotional photo sitting in a frame on the counter. "Well, that makes two of us."

"Pardon?" Emma asked nervously. She still couldn't believe that Regina Mills was standing in her trailer, no more than three feet from her.

Regina sat down in the banquette and Emma followed suit across from her. The dark haired woman ran a hand through her locks and smiled, "I'll admit, I've been a fan of yours since you were on _Artemis_ and you played that huntress with the snake tattoo."

"Wow, that was at least ten years ago," Emma replied.

Emma's trailer was typical of a stationary studio trailer. It had a table and banquettes to sit at, a bed in the back and a small bathroom. It wasn't made for living, but for a brief respite from work. But it was enough. Regina stood up and took Emma by the hand, guiding the blonde towards the bed. Emma's mind caught instant fire. Was she in some kind of fantasy dream? This couldn't really be happening. Was this a side of Regina that no one knew about? That she was possibly licentious and highly sexual that she would take Emma to bed the first day they meet?

Her suspicions were all but confirmed when Regina gently pushed Emma to the bed and then crawled her way to straddle the blonde's hips. "Will you indulge me a little? I've kinda had this crush on you since then…" she said quietly as she toyed with the edge of Emma's shirt.

Emma sat up and wrapped one arm around Regina's waist. "So… we're both fans of actresses who have the unique opportunity of possibly hooking up with their idols."

"Pretty much," Regina smirked. Her fingers gently touched Emma's ear and traced her jawline.

That incessant lump in Emma's throat formed and she struggled to keep it at bay. It threatened to choke her with its malevolent existence as a reminder that her body was reacting to her mind going completely haywire. Regina Mills, whom Emma had been a fan of for the last few years, was sitting right there, straddling her hips. She swallowed the lump again as she tried to hide her excitement and confusion, "Wait… I didn't know you were into women." Emma said.

Regina shrugged, "Never said I wasn't. I'm into you. Is that enough?"

"There's at least a hundred fans who would kill to be in your position right now."

"Same goes for you."

The last string of resistance was severed from Emma's control as she leaned in and met Regina's lips with her own. Regina's hands found their way through Emma's hair as she pulled the other woman closer to her, locking her into the kiss.

They stopped for a moment and took a breath. Emma laughed softly, "It's going to be an interesting three days."

"Get used to it," Regina smirked. "I hope you're still single like your agency bio says… I plan on sticking around now that I've made it this far."

Emma kissed her again, enjoying the contact and the realization that the woman she had only dreamed about meeting was now on her bed and making out with her. "I could use a dinner date tonight if you're free."

"Lucky for you, my schedule is open tonight." Regina pushed Emma back down on the bed and kissed her again, sighing into the kiss as Emma's arms wrapped themselves around her waist.

In the back of her mind, Emma hoped that the door was locked. They were going to be there for a while…working on their 'character relationship.'


	2. The Smoky Cherry - Coffee Shop AU

Swan Queen Week - Day 2

January 30th, 2017

Prompt: Coffee Shop AU

Title: The Smoky Cherry

Summary: After weeks of the _Smoky Cherry_ being closed, Regina was pleased to find that her favorite cafe was open again. Only to discover that it was now owned by some blonde Californian startup millennial.

* * *

Regina felt a wave of dissatisfaction the moment she walked into the new _Smoky Cherry_ cafe. It had been her place of respite. A place where she could sit in a worn out wooden chair at a mismatched table with a book and a cup of coffee. The _Smoky Cherry_ was closed for weeks. Paper blocked the view of the windows and not a single person was seen going in and out of the building. When it reopened, the regulars, including Regina, had been hesitant.

The storefront had changed. Instead of the clear glass windows where you could see people sitting and drinking at those old tables, there were now half frosted glass panes with the frosting made to look like a forest of trees. It made a pretty visual, but it wasn't what they were used to.

At least the name hadn't changed. It was named for the coffee cherry and the particularly smoky chicory coffee the previous owner liked to make. But everything else was unfamiliar. The worn out carpet that had turned a blackish-brown flattened covering was ripped out and the raw concrete below was painted and glossed over. The beat up old chairs were replaced by brown microsuede armchairs with thick fluffy cushions and huge bookshelves lined the walls. The coffee equipment was brand new and shiny, the pastry display was incredibly clean and brightly lit with low energy LEDs.

Regina wanted to literally bit her tongue. Not only did the new owners upgrade their equipment, they added equipment. At the end of the counter, at a bar counter were two halogen beam siphon boilers, a balancing siphon boiler and finally the one coffee arrangement that made Regina shudder… a shallow copper wok filled with fine red sand and Turkish coffee pots. This wasn't her old coffee shop… this was new, pretentious and so very hipster.

To her disgust, the place looked… better. Although the furniture was made to look old, it was newer and looked expensive. But that wasn't the _Smoky Cherry._ So why go back? It was an obvious question she asked herself. Maybe it was that she didn't care for the Peet's Coffee or Starbucks that graced every other block in town. Or maybe it was that every time she had walked by after the new _Smoky Cherry_ had opened, the blonde woman she glimpsed through the window had caught her eye.

The first time she saw the woman it was as she passed the newly opened cafe on her way to work. Blonde hair tied back into a messy ponytail and a heart shaped face illuminated by the halogen glow of the siphon boilers. She never saw the woman in anything other than t-shirts and a black apron… but Regina was sure she looked like a hipster. Some kind of Californian transplant who thought they knew everything there was about coffee. So she mentally protested the new _Smoky Cherry_ and resisted the urge to go inside.

But every time she walked by, as the cafe was right on her commute, if it was day or night, she saw the blonde either chatting with a customer or diligently inspecting the coffee stores in giant air tight mason jars.

So what drew her in this time? She was off of work early. Not quite in the mood to go home to the apartment she shared with her sister, but not quite in the mood to call up a friend and go out. With curiosity taking over, she found herself walking through that frosted forest storefront of the _Smoky Cherry_ and staring in awe at the neatly organized shelves of coffee beans. Each jar was tightly sealed and had the blend name or origin name written in chalk on blackboard paint on the jar. Every single jar was dated and placed in alphabetical order. The little OCD gnome in her head squealed with delight.

It was mid afternoon, some time between the post lunch rush and the commuting hour. The shop was surprisingly empty. Regina looked around for someone. If she had made it in here, she should at least have a cup of coffee. There were other workers, besides the blonde woman. She had seen a few others, but the only one she really took notice of was the blonde.

"Sorry, I didn't hear the door open," a voice greeted her, causing Regina to jump slightly at the noise. "Did I startle you? I'm sorry."

The blonde woman smiled sheepishly from behind the counter. She was exactly as Regina had seen her every other time. But this was the first time she got a closer glimpse of her. She couldn't have been more than 5'6" or 5'7", about the same height as Regina. Playful green eyes and a lopsided grin. She was wearing a plain white v-neck shirt and dark blue jeans with forest green converse sneakers under her black apron. Black rimmed hipster glasses framed her eyes and the only thing that Regina thought of besides how beautiful this woman was, was that she only needed a newsboy cap to complete the hipster look.

A hand came out towards Regina from across the counter. "Welcome to the _Smoky Cherry_. I'm Emma."

Regina took her hand and looked down. Emma's arm was covered in tattoos. Just one arm, but the colors caught her eye and somehow everything about this woman captivated Regina. Her hands were dusted with coffee grounds and the rich aroma of roasted beans permeated everything around her. But it was pleasant.

"Regina Mills… I used to come here a lot before it shut down for awhile."

Emma grinned, "Oh! You're one of the regulars? My dad told me there were some really great people who came by all the time."

"You're the owner's daughter?" Regina asked. She must have had the most shocked look on her face by the way that Emma laughed.

"Kinda hard to believe, isn't it? My dad retired from running the shop. After my baby brother was born, he wanted more time to spend at home, so we made a deal that I would come back and take over the shop after my internship was over." Emma walked over towards the coffee bar and offered Regina a seat on a stool. Regina sat down without even realizing that she was being guided by the blonde.

"Are you just out of college?" Regina had graduated several years ago after obtaining her Masters degree in Foreign Policy, but due to lack of opportunities in foreign affairs, she was stuck doing Spanish translations for a local tech company.

Emma shook her head as she walked around the bar and began fiddling with some of the miscellaneous tools there. "No, I graduated a couple of years ago. I was studying sustainable businesses and coffee co-ops in Latin America. My family's been in the coffee business for years. Well, my dad is. My mom is fine with the stuff from the gas station."

Regina smiled. Although she hated to admit she was wrong… she was wrong this time. The same family owned her beloved cafe and the new proprietor seemed to be further educated on coffee than she had expected. Regina wasn't even sure when she started it, but Emma was halfway through the brewing of some Turkish coffee as they conversed. She watched as the blonde pushed the copper lined cezva in the wok of red sand.

"I'm glad to see that the regulars are coming back. I'd hate to see all of the effort my dad put into the place go to waste." Emma said, peering into the bubbling pot.

"I'll be honest, I was pretty hesitant about coming in," Regina admitted. "It didn't feel like the old _Smoky Cherry._ It's somewhere between a tech company lounge and a minimalist's dream."

Emma laughed, "You think? Part of it was my dad's idea. He wanted me to have a place that the 'younger generation' would appreciate and thought maybe the old look was still stuck in the mid 90's. He hadn't done much to it since he picked up the place from the previous owner. But that's also why the coffee selection hadn't changed in fifteen years."

"Some people liked the consistency," Regina answered.

Picking up a red and black demitasse cup, Emma laughed as she wrote on it with a black permanent marker. "I promise, I'm not making bad changes. Like I said, this has been my dad's shop since I was a kid."

Regina smirked as Emma carefully poured the coffee from the cezva into two demitasse cups. The scent of cardamom drifted through the air and surrounded them briefly as Emma set the cup in front of Regina and leaned on the counter, leaving only a foot of space between their faces. "Turkish coffee? In the afternoon? I'm feeling pretty lucky."

Emma smiled softly and held up her cup, "I think I'm the lucky one. Didn't expect to have a pretty woman join me for the afternoon."

Regina blushed. She took note of the black marker on the cup as she lifted it and turned it slowly. In blocky print, her name was written onto the side of the tiny cup. She looked up at Emma in confusion. "What's this?"

The blonde grinned, "I like to keep things sustainable here. If you sit and have coffee, you'll have it in your cup. My treat for the regulars. If you have a favorite cup you want to use here, bring it in and I'll add it to the shelf." She pointed to rows of hooks under the cabinets that stored the coffee. On each hook was a plain colored mug or demitasse cup in different colors. Some had names, others were still blank. Each pair of hooks had a mug in the back and a demitasse in the front.

Regina sipped at the coffee and smiled warmly at the spices and the citrusy aromatics that coated her senses. Feeling a bit emboldened, she set the cup down and looked Emma squarely in the eyes. The blonde tilted her head slightly, trying to read Regina's expression. "You know… I was pretty adamant about not coming in. I was so sure that some Californian millennial had taken over this place and that it would just be a knock-off Starbucks." Regina frowned, hoping that she wasn't insulting Emma. "But… you caught my eye."

"I did?" Emma squeaked.

"Every day I walk by here on my way to and from work. Sometimes I see you, sometimes I don't… but every time I did see you, you were so focused that it's really captivating… I'm glad I decided to walk in today." Regina admitted. "I really just wanted the chance to talk to you."

"I have a confession to make," Emma said as she stood up.

"What's that?"

"I wrote your name on that cup to give you a reason to come back in here."

Regina held back a chuckle, "You thought a cup with my name on it would be enough to keep me coming in?"

The blonde gave a lopsided grin and shrugged, "It was worth a shot."

"I think I have a pretty good reason for coming in… and it's not a cup with my name on it."

Emma felt the heat creeping up to her face. She took off her glasses and idly pretended to clean them as Regina finished the last bit of her coffee. The front door opened and Emma put her glasses back on to greet them. Regina stood up and opened up her purse, "How much do I owe you for the coffee, Emma?"

The blonde grinned from the counter as the reached for a to go cup for the next patron. "It's on me."

"That's ridiculous. Come on, I don't take handouts." Regina frowned, opening up her wallet and preparing to pull out some cash.

Emma moved around behind the coffee bar like it was second nature to her. She had started up a siphon boiler and was carefully measuring coffee into the upper chamber when she turned to Regina and smiled. "Okay, then the cost of your coffee is a dinner date."

"What?"

"How about it? You pick the time, I'll find the place. Otherwise, it's $5.80 for the Turkish Coffee and I'll take it with a side of utter embarrassment." Emma did her best to sound confident but the pounding in her chest was clearly her heartbeat trying to jump into her throat and out onto the counter.

Regina gave the offer some thought and smiled as Emma poured the siphoned coffee into recycled paper cups. She finished up her transaction with the other guest and sauntered over to where Regina was standing. "So… should I go hide and pretend we never had this conversation?" Emma bit her lower lip, hoping she had played that off as smoothly as it had been in her head.

"I get off at 5 tomorrow night. Meet you here?" Regina asked with a playful smile. Emma nodded and placed the other paper cup into Regina's hands. She looked at the cup and saw the blocky print written on the side again. This time it said 'Emma Swan' in big letters and a phone number underneath it. Regina leaned in and placed a soft kiss on Emma's cheek. "It's a date then."

"See you tomorrow, Regina." Emma replied. She stood there with a silly grin on her face until Regina passed through the glass doors. As she walked away from the storefront, Regina sipped at the coffee and smiled into her cup. The jubilant cheer that echoed through the coffee shop reached her ears faintly as she walked away.


	3. By Your Blood - Medical AU

Swan Queen Week 8  
Prompt: Medical  
Title: By Your Blood  
Summary: Dr. Regina Mills has discovered a genetic component to ending the zombie outbreak that began a year ago and spread across the United States. In a dystopian nation, her only hope of reaching Boston where other doctors have gathered to fight the disease lies with a wandering Tallahasee Sheriff, Emma Swan. Together, they must reach Boston to complete the vaccine and inject it into Patient Zero, Regina's son, Henry Mills.

* * *

In the wake of the outbreak one year ago, Regina's job had gone from being a renowned genetic researcher to an emergency doctor and field physician. That was the case for anyone with a medical degree. If you knew your way around a scalpel and an operating table, your presence was demanded in every outpost that cropped up across the country.

The outbreak began with a boy, in a small town called Storybrooke on the coast of Maine. It was unclear how he contracted the disease, but to keep his identity confidential, researchers around the world referred to him as Patient Zero. Quarantined in Harvard, Patient Zero exhibited no signs of the outbreak. But it seeped from him, like a noxious cloud that permeated the air around him. Under constant surveillance and under strict government control, researchers risked their lives getting close to the boy to find a cure. Piece by piece, they have constructed a vaccine that was missing a single key component.

Regina clutched her backpack close to her chest as she crouched inside a storage shed. Outside, the groaning and shuffling of reanimated corpses were as common as the sound of birds chirping. How many days had she been on the road? She couldn't even tell what day it was anymore. If it hadn't been for the plucky blonde sheriff she ran into in Philidelphia, she wouldn't have made it this far into New York State.

At least she wasn't alone. Help came in the form of a young, blonde Sheriff on the freeway outside of Philidelphia when the car Regina was driving had died on the freeway. Not that there was much on the roads these days. The rural areas were safer to drive through but harder to get help on. The roads into New York City and the fastest routes to Boston were congested with abandoned cars as the outbreak caused hordes of corpses to diverge upon travelers. It was by sheer luck that a Tallahassee patrol car, beaten up and dirt caked from days on the road, had been passing by when the radiator on Regina's Mercedes had gone up into a billowing cloud of steam. After verifying that the sheriff wasn't contaminated and that she wasn't completely crazy, Regina did the one thing she hated doing… she pleaded for help.

It didn't take much. The sheriff introduced herself as Emma Swan, who had left her jurisdiction in Tallahassee when her entire unit was wiped out against a horde. She took to the roads, helping where she could and fighting off whatever walking monstrosities she could. So when Regina asked for help to get to Boston and after explaining her purpose, Emma decided to make it her personal quest to make sure Regina made it. Maybe then they'd make it out of this nightmare.

The door of the shed opened up quietly and Regina's blonde companion appeared through the sunlight that poured in. Her badge that had one shined with her officer number and her last name, Swan, was dingy and beaten, but still reflected some light. It caught Regina's eye as she stood up from her hiding place.

"All right, let's keep moving. I found a car that's been abandoned. It's got a full tank of gas and there's no shufflers around it," the blonde said quietly. "But we have to move quickly and quietly."

"We're always moving quickly and quietly, Emma. Telling me that is like telling a person they have to breathe to survive." Regina retorted. She checked the contents of her bag again for the tenth time today. She couldn't afford to lose anything that was inside. After six months of being holed up in Philidelphia, she finally discovered a genetic key to the outbreak. They had to get to Harvard. That boy, Patient Zero, and the rest of the population needed it.

Emma held out her hand and smirked, "The moment you stop sassing me is when I'll need to check if you've been bitten, Doc."

Regina took her hand and slung her backpack over her free shoulder. "Enough talking, let's go."

Hand in hand, they crept through the backyard of an abandoned house. Although at this point, most houses were abandoned. Survivors gathered in major cities where fortified walls of junk became the last stand against the creatures that hunted the public. People had turned savage against each other, throwing out anyone who even so much as coughed. The world had become afraid. In a year, the United States had fallen apart.

They reached the main street of the neighborhood. Shufflers, zombies of the slow moving variety, dragged themselves along the street in search of something to quell their insatiable hunger. Moving as silently as possible, they hurried down the street.

"Over there, that yellow Volkswagen bug." Emma whispered.

"Great, a death trap on wheels." Regina muttered.

"Any better ideas, your majesty? I couldn't seem to find your carriage and four white horses." Emma snipped back.

"Oh, shut up." Regina sighed. Allowing herself to be pulled along by Emma, she didn't see the large branch that had been strewn across the ground. "Shit!" she exclaimed as she caught herself before she hit the ground.

That was enough to catch the attention of the shufflers nearby. Hungered groans echoed as they took notice of Emma and Regina. The sheriff clicked her tongue, "Fuck. Run!" she urged. They both took off in a sprint towards the yellow Beetle as shufflers from lord knows where came together to give chase.

Arms flailing into the air, they gathered together into a grouping of ten or so bodies, drooling blood and bile as they made a beeline for their running targets.  
Emma was the first to reach the car. She yanked open the door and got into the seat just as Regina managed to open the passenger door. They slammed both door shut for safety. Emma turned the key that was left inside the ignition but was answered by the whirring noises of a struggling engine trying to turn over.

"Emma, let's go!" Regina shouted.

"I'm trying! Shit! Shit! Shit!" she turned the ignition again, slamming her feet on the gas pedal and the clutch. Emma looked up through the rear view mirror and saw the shufflers gaining on them. "Fuck!"

Regina looked around the car and saw the problem. She watched as Emma slammed on the clutch again, then quickly slapped the shifter into neutral. It had been stuck in third gear. The engine turned over and sputtered out a cloud of exhaust behind them, obscuring small horde from their vision.

The car took off down the street and Emma swerved to avoid a crookedly parked truck. She managed to clip a shuffler that was casing the truck and watched it tumble off to the sidewalk in a mess of broken bones and rotted flesh.

They sped out of the neighborhood and followed roadsigns to Interstate 90. To get around the nearly impenetrable fortress of New York City and Manhattan, they had driven up the Taconic State Parkway before having to stop in the tiny town of Chatham to resupply. After gathering what they could from an nearly emptied out on 7-11, they discovered that their car had been surrounded by a pack of undead.

Now that they were in a new car and back on the road, Regina leaned back into the seat and sighed. "Jesus christ, that was close."

Emma scowled, "What the hell kind of old car gets itself stuck in third gear?"

"What kind of experienced driver doesn't up the car into first gear or neutral before trying to turn the engine?" Regina pointed out. Emma shot her an aggravated look.

"Boston's about two and a half hours away. The tank's full, so I think we'll make some good time," Emma said as she tried to change the subject.  
After about fifteen minutes of silence, Regina looked over at the blonde. "Hey."

"Hm?"

"Thank you," she said quietly.

Emma smiled, "For what?"

"For staying with me and helping me. I wouldn't have made it out of Philidelphia without you."

"Just think of me as your white knight. But, you haven't told me what is it you discovered that can cure the outbreak." When they first met, Regina had only said she had important research that could help the effort to build a vaccine. They were more determined to get to Boston than to nitpick about what it was that Regina was carrying, but now that they were closer than they imagined, Emma's curiosity got the better of her.

Regina sighed. She had already decided to trust Emma with her life, it was probably time to explain everything to her. Since leaving Philidelphia, they had been through quite a bit of danger and adventure together. Between holing up together in a dingy motel room for safety and rest to digging through old grocery stores for food and fighting off shufflers, they found that they were a pretty good team. Regina might even think that she cared for Emma. Well, she certainly cared for her safety. The sheriff had gotten her this far and thanks to Regina's medical skills, Emma lived through some pretty serious scrapes that she took to keep her safe.

"The disease is genetic. I've read the research from other doctors who have been trying to find a cure. Thank god our phones still get data and people can post research on Google. Otherwise, I don't know how we'd share this information. That was the benefit of being asked to work at UPMC. I was able to work with other genetics specialists for the last 9 months."

Emma hummed quietly, "Genetic, huh? So what is it that caused it?"

"Patient Zero's genetic makeup has somehow become contaminated by something in Storybrooke. That triggered the disease. There's an old well in the town that goes into a mine well below the city outskirts. I wouldn't be surprised if we found the catalyst down there. But that's not important. I think if we can complete this vaccine, then we can save him and prevent this disease from spreading," Regina explained. "Do you have any family?"

The sheriff's eyebrows came together in a deep frown. "I did. Well, maybe I still do. I don't know if they're still alive. They're from Storybrooke."

Regina's face went pale. "So how did you end up in Tallahassee?"

Emma shrugged, "I was rebellious when I moved out. Parents were too clingy, there was nothing in the town… I needed to get out and see the world. Or, at least the rest of the East Coast. I… I guess I was running away, too."

"Running away?"

Emma sighed defeatedly. "I don't usually tell people this… but I guess since you and I have spent this much time together, it's okay if you know."

"I won't tell a soul," Regina answered, trying to assure Emma.

"I had a son, about eleven years ago. But I wasn't in the position to be a parent. I mean, I was barely an adult myself... so, I had to give him up. I ended up having a falling out with my parents over it. They were pretty upset that I was having a kid and was single. Then they were upset that I didn't leave him to them. But I really think he had a better chance out there with someone else who really could be his parent." Emma's eyes seemed to gloss over for a moment. In the days they spent together, this was probably the most vulnerable Regina had ever seen her.

"Wow, I... wouldn't have guessed that about you. I think you did the right thing," Regina said softly. She wanted to reach out and hold Emma's hand. But it seemed to be confession time and with little more than an hour away from their final destination, she wanted to be honest with Emma. Which meant revealing her deepest held secret. "Finding a cure was personal for me. I… Patient Zero is my son."

Emma felt her leg shift and she stopped herself from slamming on the brakes to look at Regina. She glanced at her quickly, but saw nothing more than a vulnerable woman. She had wondered what sort of inspiration would make a person like Doctor Mills want to cross several states to look the center of the disease in the eye. She wasn't sure which of her emotions she should grasp while they whizzed in her head like maddened fireflies.

Regina took Emma's silence as either anger or disbelief. She wasn't sure which, but she continued anyways. "I was on a work trip to North Carolina to collaborate on a project with some researchers at Duke. I left Henry with my sister in Storybrooke. When the outbreak happened, I couldn't fly home. All the flights to Boston were cancelled and my attempts to get at least to Portland, Maine were squashed, too. I stopped hearing from my sister, but she was the one who kept me updated. It started with Henry getting sick after playing in the woods. She said he was fine, but he was just suffering from a cough. The local physician, Dr. Whale, said it was nothing more than a cold. But a cold that didn't seem to go away."

She reached into her backpack and pulled out the binder of research documents. This was the thing she needed the most. All of her notes, her data, everything she recorded while she studied the disease was here. She opened it up and pulled out a photo from the pocket. It was Henry's last school photo. Emma glanced at it and paused for a moment. Lucky for her, no one else was on the road. The amount of focus she put on the photo would've caused an accident if it was actually being used for something other than being an open space these days. Something about the photo nagged at the back of her mind. But she quietly kept her hands on the wheel and allowed Regina to finish her story.

"I was able to make it to Boston once to see my son. By that time, he was under quarantine and I was under government surveillance. They booked a private transport and had brought me there to see him. I…" Regina stopped herself as her throat began to tighten and her eyes welled up with tears she had refused to let fall. "It was the worst thing in the world, to see your child behind a glass window. He seemed healthy… but the look of fear in his eyes. What child would want that? Months locked up in a glass box under constant guard of people in full body plastic suits. Even I couldn't get near him without a suit on."

"I was assigned to a research team in UPMC. I promised Henry I would find a cure and that we could end all of this together. He's a pretty brave kid. He just said he believed in me and that he knew I'd be back. It took me eight months to find something. Henry is missing a particular strain of DNA that nullifies the symptoms of this disease. It's usually passed on from one of the parents, but I need to get that information from the adoption agency in Boston where I adopted him years ago. I mean, it would be so much easier if I knew where he was born. They'd at least have records there of the parents. But I wasn't finding anything in Philadelphia." Regina put the photo back into the binder sleeve and glanced over at Emma. "You don't believe me, do you?"

Emma was quiet for a very long time before she broke the silence that fell between them. When she spoke again, she felt her voice waver. "He has a birthmark behind his left ear that looks a little like a star, doesn't he?"

Regina turned slowly towards Emma. The car lurched forward as she shifted gears prematurely. "How… do you know that?"

"I would know that kid's face anywhere. That's my son," Emma answered. Even though she had last seen him as an infant, she just knew. There was no doubt in her mind that Regina's son… was also hers.

It took some time to process everything. The unlikeliness of running into the one person who could help Regina finish all of this was one in an infinite number. A chance so low that one would have to believe in miracles for this sort of occurrence to happen. Yet, here they were. It wasn't Henry that she needed to finish the vaccine, it was one of his birth parents...and his mother had been right beside her this entire time.

"Emma... I... I don't know what to say," Regina replied meekly, breaking the silence. In the thirteen years Henry was with her, she had always imagined that if she ever met his birth mother, she would give that woman a piece of her mind. How dare she abandon such a sweet boy. Incorrigible, yes. But most young boy were. But now that Regina knew her, not as Henry's birth mother, but as Sheriff Emma Swan who helped her cross state lines in the midst of a deadly outbreak, she sympathized with her.

Somewhere along the road, Emma noted they crossed into Massachusetts. The walls around Boston would be fortified, well guarded, and they'd be lucky if they could get through. But they weren't going into Boston proper. Just Harvard, to the medical facilities where Henry was kept under close quarantine. To be completely honest, she didn't want her journey with Regina to end. But if she stayed, she would have to go back to everything she ran away from.

Regina drew air into her lungs, taking in mental courage as she did so. "If you're Henry's birth mother, then you're the person I need."

"What do you mean?" Emma asked warily.

"You could be the savior. In order to finish the vaccine, I need your DNA to complete the chain that completes the code in his immune system. Once it activates in his body, we can create the vaccine from a single sample of his white blood cells." Regina explain.

"Why don't other people have the natural immunity against this?"

"It's sort of complicated." Regina opened up her binder again and turned to a diagram of DNA helixes. "Most people have a complete helix that tells the body to reject invasive bacteria and creates a defensive antibody. Children generally develop this completed helix after a few months from birth, but Henry's never developed. It can be supplemented by a parent's DNA. That's where you come in. If we can use your DNA to complete Henry's, then he should be able to naturally eliminate the disease. Once he's cured, a single sample of his white blood cells is the foundation to a vaccine that can be replicated."

"Did anyone ever tell you're really smart?" Emma smirked slightly. "But you're also incredibly trusting to someone you just met on the road. What if I made up that story about being your son's birth mother? I mean, I could've snuck through your binder while you were sleeping at some point and I could be coming up with a scheme to take advantage of the situation."

Regina scoffed. "You're awful at being a villain. First off, what profit could you make out of lying about being Henry's birth mother? That's such an obscure thing to make up and for what? Money? No one has money anymore. People are using twenties to wipe their asses. There just aren't any resources and there's no point in currency until this country is back and running. Are you that desperate about being a hero?"

"Nah, you're right. I just wanted to see if you really thought about this. I mean, I'm practically a stranger," Emma pointed out.

"No, you're practically family," Regina muttered quietly. "Besides, I've seen Henry in you. He has your eyes and that ridiculously adorable lopsided grin. I thought I was imagining it before. Thought that maybe I was so desperate to save him that I was seeing him in everyone I came across. But it's just you. I have faith that this cure will work, but I need you for it. Henry needs you."

Emma reached over and squeezed Regina's hand. It was easy to get close to someone when your life was dependent on them. Regina had taken psychology courses and was not oblivious to the butterflies she felt in her stomach when Emma touched her. It was the same when she would feel Emma's weight beside her when they slept, curled up in a haphazard mattress together or in an abandoned house or wherever they could sleep. Situations of high stress can lead to feelings of affection if accompanied by someone one feels an attraction to. It was the "Speed" effect. Or maybe Regina's watched that old Keanu Reeves movie way too many times. That didn't change the fact that she had known about her feelings for Emma for the last few days.

"I don't need to be a hero to anyone except you and Henry."

Regina felt the heat rise in her face and she interlaced her fingers with Emma's. Her hand was warm and the feeling of her palm against her own was comforting.

"Emma?"

"Yeah?"

Regina gathered up her courage to ask the next question on her mind. "When this is all over, will you stay with us? With me? I may be asking a lot, but I've really become comfortable with you around and I'm sure Henry would love to get to know you. It's just... I'm having a really hard time picturing you not being with me."

Emma smirked, "Why, Doctor Mills, could it be that you've fallen in love with me?" She meant it as a joke, just to poke a little fun at Regina's expense.

"Yeah, I think I have," Regina answered quietly.

That caught Emma off guard. Regina was normally very guarded and often gave off a cold, calculating demeanor. She thought she'd get some sassy remark in response, but this time Regina was answering in a way Emma didn't expect. She would be lying if she played it off as a joke. She had started to notice her own feelings for Regina the moment they passed into New York state area. But the mission was always first. Getting Regina to Boston was the most important thing. It was in those quiet moments when she would glance at the doctor and maybe she had just said something witty, that she would see Regina's smile. That alone made Emma's heart race.

Emma slowed the car down until they finally parked. Regina had been so fixed on Emma and her expression that she hardly noticed where they were. Still in the middle of the freeway, but they were now the tail end of a two mile stretch of parked and abandoned cars. She looked around where they had stopped. From her immediate vision, they were safe. No shufflers or anything that could attack. The old Volkswagen would've made enough noise with its sputtering that anything within a quarter of a mile would come running.

As she watched their surroundings from the passenger window, Regina suddenly felt Emma's presence next to her. Emma's arm reached out and propped herself against the door, leaning over Regina as if she were going to climb into the passenger seat with her.

"What are you-?!" Regina was about to scold her before Emma quietly put her finger against the doctor's lips and made a small hissing noise. They sat there in silence for a few moments with Emma stretched over Regina in the seat. She tried to keep her gaze averted anywhere else but the fine line of Emma's muscles in her arm as she held herself up. Or the tempting line of her jaw that would have been so easy to lean into and kiss. Or her green eyes that searched the perimeter for danger, always keeping a keen eye out for their safety.

Emma's body visibly relaxed. "Ok, we're clear. I was pretty sure I saw something in the open field, but it doesn't look like there was anything. Probably my imagination." She was about to settle back into her seat when Regina gripped the lapels of her sheriff's uniform, holding her in place. "Woah, are you ok?"  
Regina pulled Emma into her, bringing her down in a searing kiss. She was initially self conscious about her state of self. No showers for days, breath probably as rank as a shuffler, dirt and grime and grease caked on her body. But Emma showed no signs of reeling. To her surprise, Emma leaned into the kiss even further until Regina was pressed firmly against the door.

Emma kept herself propped up over Regina, using the door and the passenger seat to support her weight. Regina's hands moved up from Emma's shirt to weaving into her hair, pulling Emma as closer to her as possible. When they finally separated, both women were suddenly aware of an emotion that they had been burying for days.

"I think I've kinda fallen for you, too," Emma said quietly. Regina buried her face into Emma's shoulder to hide the blush that blossomed on her cheeks.

"Let me keep relying on you, Sheriff Swan," Regina replied with a smirk. "Our journey isn't over yet. We still have to get through to the guard wall of the city to get to Harvard."

Emma sat back in her seat and smiled. "I'm not going anywhere. We've already come this far, we're going to see it through together. When it's all over, I'd really like to meet our son."

With renewed conviction and a new love engulfing their hearts, they left the yellow deathtrap at the edge of the sea of forgotten cars. Hand in hand, they walked towards the wall of that surrounded Harvard and the surrounding area of Boston. They had a son to save, together.

* * *

This challenge ended up being longer than I had expected when I started it. I may consider continuing this one, if y'all like it enough. I'd love to hear your feedback. I've never written a zombie/medical/science piece before.

Thanks for reading!


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